...kleptocracy (From klepto- + - cracy: see - cracy , 1819, re Spain)
A ruling body or order of thieves (kleptomaniacs, people with kleptomania ). Also, government by thieves; a nation ruled by this kind of government. See also unfitness ....

...were subjected to extrajudicial executions, internal banishment, disappearances, long-term detention without trial, torture, and other human rights violations. Moreover, Mobutu institutionalized corruption to the extent that most observers agreed his regime became a real kleptocracy—that is, a government headed by thieves. Another of Mobutu's strategies was a policy of “divide and rule”: to play the ethnic card in the Kivu area, siding with one group at the expense of the other, according to circumstances and opportunity. In 1972 he promulgated the...

...community itself. All these conflicts served well his political interests, as people living under conditions of conflict or war tend to rally around their governments, and politicians are forced to compete over the issue of patriotism. Milošević's regime functioned as a kleptocracy, in which his family grew steadily richer at the expense of the country's citizens and in which loyalty on the part of high-ranking functionaries was highly rewarded. According to Louis Sell, during Milošević's thirteen years of rule more than $100 million, an amount possibly...

...development and encourage corruption and formal sector inefficiency—which in turn involve further human rights violations. There is general agreement that the economic situation in Africa has favored those leaders (and their cronies) who persistently violate human rights. Kleptocracies—which loot national resources and monopolize opportunities—worsen societal schisms and deny some or most of the population access to public goods and services and larger shares of national wealth. Human rights violations make fledgling democratization processes more volatile...

...unfortunate reality of high levels of corruption that exist in many less developed countries. If the right to development means that richer states should redistribute wealth to poorer states, why should the former do this when in many poor countries the government is often a kleptocracy that steals from the public treasury to line the pockets of the ruling group? In fact, some of the more unsavory governments in the less developed countries have used the right to development to justify repressive policies. Civil and political rights are put on hold, while the...

PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).